Crypto-powered Brave Browser Hits 5 Million Google Play Downloads

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Cryptocurrency-powered web browser Brave has now been downloaded more than five million times from the Google Play mobile app store.

The ad-blocking browser, which was co-founded by Mozilla Firefox creator Brendan Eich, reached this significant milestone last Thursday, just six months after crossing the one million download threshold.

This rapid growth has come on the heels of several high profile partnerships, including one with Dow Jones Media Group that provides a limited number of Brave users with access to premium content from several of the company’s publications.

The app even received a cameo in a recent episode of iconic news program 60 Minutes, when Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman used the app during a segment profiling allegations that Google has engaged in anti-competitive behavior in how it manages its ubiquitous search engine.

As CCN reported, Brave raised $36 million in just 30 seconds during the startup’s May 2017 initial coin offering (ICO). At the time, it was the highest-grossing ICO ever held, though this figure has since been surpassed by dozens of projects — including one that raised $1.7 billion from fewer than 200 investors.

Since the Brave browser blocks ads by default, users can reward publishers for producing quality content with the platform’s Basic Attention Token (BAT). YouTube creators and Twitch streamers can also register to become publishers, enabling them to earn a much larger percentage of the revenue than through conventional ad-based models.

Eventually, Brave plans to allow users to opt-in to non-intrusive advertising that is native to the browser. In exchange, they will receive a portion of the revenue, paid out in BAT and automatically converted into their local currency.

Download statistics for the iOS version of the app are not available, and Brave did not immediately respond to a request for this information. However, the company claims that the browser has 2.3 million monthly active users across all versions, as well as 14,000 verified publishers who have signed up to receive BAT payments.